Barack Obama won a second presidential term on November 6, 2012, but the political victories won that day represented a bigger win for women than anyone else.

As we looked at the Manhattan skyline last night, which just one week ago was shrouded in post-Sandy darkness, we saw a change. The lights on the Empire State Building, which had been red, white, and blue for Election Day, slowly shifted until only blue remained. At 11:21 p.m., several networks called the 2012 presidential election for Barack Obama. At 12:55 a.m., Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney delivered his concession speech.

Four years ago, Barack Obama ran for president on a platform of hope and change. In 2012, it was different. Obama's first term in office saw a country ravaged by economic downturn, war, and unemployment. His re-election campaign wasn't about the halcyon dreams of 2008, nor did it contain promises for drastic differences should he win a second term. For many people, the blue lights in the skyline were the first indication that change is still possible. If Romney had won and the lights had turned red, the meaning would stay the same: We've all been through dark times, and we are all ready for change.

After months of vicious campaigning, the outcome is clear: Americans went to the polls on Tuesday to influence our country's future. The way votes broke down along socioeconomic, racial, and gender lines showed that while we may not agree on the winner of this year's presidential race (the popular vote remains almost an even split), we as a nation share a common goal, which has been our M.O. from the very beginning: the pursuit of happiness and individual liberties. Nowhere was this more evident than the victory this election represents for women.

In Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren became the first woman to win one of the state's Senate seats. She thanked her female supporters, promising "To all the women of Massachusetts, after working your tails off, you better believe it, we're going to fight for equal pay for equal work." Warren also told her constituents that she would safeguard abortion rights and fight for the middle class. Throughout her candidacy, Warren was described as "scrappy," a term that in the past was primarily reserved for male underdogs. Even adjectives are losing their old gender connotations; score one for linguistic evolution.

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In Wisconsin, Tammy Baldwin became the state's first female senator, as well as America's first openly gay senator. "But I didn't run to make history. I ran to make a difference," she said in her acceptance speech on Tuesday night.

In Missouri, Claire McCaskill defeated Rep. Todd Akin to hold onto her Senate seat. Senator McCaskill's seat had been considered one of the most vulnerable in the 2012 Senate races; however, her challenger's contentious comments about "legitimate rape" hurt his political standing. Cheers rang out across the country when Akin officially lost the race.

In another victory for women, Joe Donnelly defeated Richard E. Mourdock to win an open Senate seat in Indiana. During a recent debate, Mourdock said that if a woman became pregnant after being raped, it was "something God intended to happen." He did not back down from his now-infamous comment during his concession speech on Tuesday, saying he had been attacked during his campaign because "I stand that all life is precious in the eyes of God."

In the end, every gaffe involving a male candidate overstepping his gender bounds and claiming firsthand knowledge of what it's like to be female only served to mobilize American women. As we headed to the polls during the 2012 election, we were more informed than ever about equal pay, reproductive rights, and healthcare. You told us when we asked for the stories behind your votes, and the media declared that this election would be all about women when it was still in its nascent stages — before anyone had ever claimed to have "binders full" of them. No matter which candidate you cast your vote for on Tuesday and what color the Empire State Building was when you went to bed that night, that is the change to believe in: Women 2012.

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